Some Cool Crowdfunding Projects (August 2014)

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A few days late, I’m out of town. Another list of crowdfunding projects that demand attention. Seriously, give ’em a look.

  • Jotun
  • A top-down 2D action adventure. What makes it exciting? Beautiful hand-drawn animation and environments, set in stylized Viking mythos. Honestly, it’s dangerously close to “The Banner Saga,” but the immense support it’s already received shows that isn’t an issue. Likelihood of funding: high (past halfway, large amount so far on Kickstarter).
  • Elysian Shadows
  • Described as a true next-gen 2D rpg… riiight. The majority of that is based around a dynamic lighting system overtop the otherwise plain pixel-art. It happens to be done with “SpriteLamp” (a 2D lighting framework that I supported on Kickstarter a year ago), and may be the first finished game to put it to good use. What excites me more is the idea of shifting perspectives for certain areas for gameplay and visual changes… if they do it right, this might also be the first game other than my work to use a fully third-person camera around a object that isn’t a 3D model. It looks like that’s not the intention, but one can hope… Likelihood of funding: high (still a long way to go, but they barely started, and look like they’ll clear their goal easy with their massive following).
  • Bacon Man
  • I initially wanted to write this off as another game trying to be “so stupid it’s good.” After watching the video, that’s exactly what they’re going for. But it’s clear that they have fantastic artists to help back up the vision. Most notably is the music, composed by Kyle Landry, a great Youtube musician of whom I am a personal fan. Seriously, watch their Kickstarter video before passing on, it might convince you. Likelihood of funding: medium (great initial momentum, but they need a small push near the end to make their goal).
  • The Hole Story
  • The biggest selling point of this Kickstarter is that it is made by “Girls Make Games,” which emphasizes empowering women in the field. Which is all well and good, but I’m of the thought that women are every bit as capable as men (in most cases, even more so) in Computer Science and Gaming, and that a gender bias exists shouldn’t be an issue. If it’s truly based on other men already in the industry, I’m disgusted. I mention this game here because it looks genuinely decent, a great little 2D pixel-art game. Likelihood of funding: already done.

And with that, I have another announcement: my own indie game, “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth,” will be heading into a Kickstarter campaign VERY soon. I once did a Kickstarter before, for “James – Journey of Existence,” to which “Drew” is a like a spiritual predecessor. That made a few hundred dollars, to which I hope to make a bit more given what I’ve learned in that time. On one hand, the game is almost already complete, and is generally a very small, simple game, so funding might not seem so urgent. On the other hand, the music and voice acting alone are very compelling, and if shown to enough people, I think I could reach a modest goal. Stay tuned…

Oh yeah, if you haven’t seen it yet, look at this trailer to see what I’m talking about: